


Merman

by allieelly



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, One Shot, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-24
Updated: 2015-02-24
Packaged: 2018-03-14 21:36:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3426422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allieelly/pseuds/allieelly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leorio finds an injured merman washed up on shore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Merman

**Author's Note:**

> For my writing class we had to write a short story, and since I’m complete leopika trash I decided to write something for the leopika mermaid au i’ve talked about (i changed the names when i submitted it but i changed them back for this). I’m really not a writer, and I struggled a lot with this, but I think it turned out okay enough to post. Thanks to the two friends who edited this for me.

After one particularly long shift at work, Leorio decided that he didn’t feel like going home just yet. Leorio was a med student who was volunteering at a clinic over the summer, and he often worked late shifts. While he loved the work he did, it was starting to take a toll on him. He was staying in a town far away from anyone he knew, and even if there were people he could see, he was too busy either working or sleeping. Leorio usually went directly home after work to get some rest, but he needed to shake things up. Sunrise was soon, and he had heard of a beautiful place to watch it, so he headed that way. Once he arrived, he pushed up the circular glasses that were way too small for his face, ripped off his shoes, and ran through the cool sand; but was brought to a complete halt when he noticed the injured mermaid washed up on shore. Well, to be exact, merman. The merman had hair that was a radiant golden blonde, and a tail covered in glowing red scales that seemed to shine abnormally bright when the sun hit them. Leorio took a moment to take the looks of the merman in, but realized the severity of the situation and sprang into action. He knew he couldn’t care for the merman here, so he used all his strength to pick him up, and carried him back to his apartment.

Kurapika was a merman from a secluded community of rare merfolk, known for their scales that glowed with a stunning scarlet hue. While Kurapika had been away, a band of pirates massacred the whole community for their scales, which were considered luxuries in the human world. The entire community was destroyed in the conflict. Left without a home, Kurapika had no choice but to wander the ocean alone, trying to make a new one for himself. As he wandered for many uneventful months, with days that seemed to drag on forever, his resentment towards human grew. On one very mind-numbing day, Kurapika had a run in with a fishing ship full of humans. The merman lost control of himself, and tried to puncture the ship to take it down. His attempts to attack ended up getting him caught in the ship’s net, and consequently started a struggle between him and the ship’s crew. He made it out alive, but severely injured. Kurapika swam for as long as he could, but eventually passed out, and ended up washed up on shore.

To say the surroundings Kurapika saw when he awoke were unfamiliar would be an understatement. No longer did the never-ending water of the sea surround him, but what did was the limited amount of space of a bathtub in a human bathroom. He panicked. The merman tried to flop his way out of the tub, splashing water all over the bathroom in the process. But soon, he realized the true severity of his injuries, and yelped in pain. Kurapika was out of options; all he could do was wait. His wait wasn’t long, however, as he heard what sounded like feet shuffling towards the door. The scream must have alerted whoever was there. The door flung open to reveal a taller than average, slightly panicked man. Kurapika’s automatic response to humans was typically rage, but, at the moment, he could only muster up dull bitterness that was overpowered by curiosity.

“Oi, are you finally awake?” asked the tall man, his hand pushing back his spikey black hair. “You’ve been out cold for three days straight; I thought I was going to have a dead mermaid on my hands. I’m not sure how I’d explain that to my landlord.”

Kurapika stared at the man with a befuddled expression.

“Wait - can you even understand me? I know next to nothing about mermaids, for all I know you could only speak fish…”

“I am not a fish; I can understand you,” Kurapika said, a hint of annoyance in the tone of his voice. The tall man looked shocked by Kurapika’s ability to respond.

“Why am I here?” Kurapika said in an almost commanding voice. “Most humans kill for my scales, but if you haven’t taken them by now, I doubt you plan to.”

“Christ, if I knew you were going to give me this much crap, I would have left you passed out on the beach. You were wounded; I couldn’t leave you there.”

The merman sensed no intent of ill harm in the human whatsoever, and his initial feeling of cautiousness started to fade away. The man noticed the change, walked farther into the room, and then kneeled besides the tub.

“Am I going to be okay? How long do I have to stay here?” Kurapika asked.

“Well, I’m not a marine biologist so I can’t fully assess how your tail’s going to heal,” the man snickered a bit, checking the merman’s wounds on his tail. “But yeah, you’re going to be okay. I’m not sure how long though, but I’m going to keep you here until you’re fully healed.”

Kurapika nodded. The man took Kurapika’s nod as a signal that he was okay now, and started to get up to leave, but he was stopped by the merman grabbing at his tie.

“You haven’t told me your name,” The blonde’s face reddened as he loosened his grip. “My name is Kurapika.”

“Leorio,” he said as he watched Kurapika’s head turn away from him. “I’ll just be in the other room; holler if you need anything.”

The merman nodded again, and watched as the taller man left the room. While this situation wasn’t ideal, to Kurapika, anything was better than what he had been doing before. While the bathtub he currently resided in was tremendously more cramped than the ocean he swam through before, it felt less confining.

Leorio was gone a lot due to work, but, compared to how much time Kurapika was used to spending by himself, this was not a problem. It wasn’t like Kurapika was always alone, either. The taller man kept him company whenever he could. Before he left for work, he’d always made sure the merman was comfortable, and when he returned, he’d sit next to the tub for hours, cleaning Kurapika’s wounds and telling stories from his day. Listening to the stories Leorio told was the blonde’s favorite part of this routine. The more he learned about humans, the less resentment he felt towards them. It reminded him of the stories his mother had read to him that sparked his initial intrigue with humans; but that fascination had seemed to be long gone after the tragedies he faced. Yet Leorio’s stories seemed to rekindle that curiosity. Maybe the way Leorio told them affected how Kurapika received them, too. The dark haired man would seem to glow as he talked about his day, and it was hard to not be fully engaged in them. Kurapika would smile when Leorio smiled, he’d laugh when Leorio laughed, and he joined in Leorio’s annoyance. The taller man was passionate about everything, and his emotions were contagious.

While Leorio easily opened up to Kurapika, it took weeks for the merman to even so much as mention any parts of his life. Kurapika was more than content just listening to the taller man talk, and Leorio could sense that so he never tried to push the matter. The merman had talked about the very basics of his people and what had happened, but never went into detail about anything else. It was hard not to be curious, though, so every once in a while the man would ask the occasional question in hopes of sparking something. What does breathing underwater feel like? How far have you traveled? What do you eat? Usually, the merman would reply with the shortest answers possible, but one day, one of Leorio’s questions struck a cord.

“Where did you learn English anyway?” Leorio asked while he checked the progress of the wounds healing on Kurapika. “I don’t know what language merpeople speak, but I’m guessing it’s not English.”

“We had our own language. It’s obsolete now,” The merman moved his brown eyes from watching the dark haired man to staring down at his own tail, trying to hide the grief on his face. “And I - I learned English from my mother. She read me books my father brought from the human world.”

“Whoa, wait a minute; human world? Your dad visited here? I remember you mentioning people rarely left your home but-”

“They rarely did, but my dad was different. He loved to explore. I remember how he’d always come home with various presents, and he’d have a story about each of them,” Kurapika smiled at the memory. His dad has been his inspiration, and the driving force that made him want to go on his own adventures. He had dreamed of telling his own stories to his fellow merpeople. Kurapika’s smile quickly turned to a frown when he remembered that was the reason he wasn’t home that gruesome day. Leorio noticed the change in expression and changed the subject immediately. He was good at sensing when a person was at their emotional limit, and it made him a calming force. Kurapika couldn’t help it; he always felt more relaxed when Leorio was around.

As the summer went on, and Kurapika’s health improved, the two grew extremely close. The conversations were less one-sided; Kurapika talked more often now. The merman taught the taller man parts of his language, and he told stories not only of his time at home, but also stories of the time he was away. He hadn’t even realized there were stories to tell from then until he had met Leorio. Everything felt perfect, but both Kurapika and Leorio realized this setup could not last forever. Leorio had to leave his apartment to go back to school soon, so the merman would have to leave the bathtub also. It’s not like Kurapika wanted to live in a bathtub forever anyways, and after opening up to Leorio, the blond was eager to see everything the ocean had to offer, so he could have even more stories to tell. When Kurapika thought of leaving however, he felt a pang of homesickness. It wasn’t from the idea of leaving the bathroom, as it felt no more like his home than anywhere else. The feeling, he would soon figure out, was because of Leorio.

It was early in the morning on Leorio’s move out date, and Leorio was getting ready to bring Kurapika back to the ocean. The taller man decided to get dressed up, dawning one of his business suits he wore to school.

“I hope you’re prepared to get sand on that.” Kurapika said, leaning his arms on the edge of the tub.

“I’m seeing off my buddy; it’s a special occasion!” Leorio smiled as he turned out to show Kurapika his completed outfit. “Might as well make this special.”

“I’m going to be back to visit next summer. You don’t need to make this a big production.”

“Just shut up and enjoy this.”

Leorio walked over to the tub and started to prepare himself to pick the merman up out of the tub, but was stopped by said merman grabbing his tie. Kurapika used it to pull Leorio in for a kiss. Both of them blushed furiously.

“Get yourself together!” Kurapika regained his composure first. “We’re going to miss sunrise if we don’t get going soon! I told you I wanted to see it.”

“And whose fault will that be if we miss it?” Leorio scoffed. He placed his arms under the merman, and hoisted him out of the tub. While Leorio made his way towards the door, Kurapika leaned his head on Leorio’s shoulder. In that moment, the merman realized that maybe he didn’t need a new place to call to home – just a new someone instead.


End file.
